That exchange took place just days into his Liverpool career and involved Benitez asking him to write down his misdemeanours and faults.

Pennant simply wrote "GIRLS" in capital letters - and it was downhill for him from there.

Commenting on Benitez's touchline instructions, he said: "On the pitch, often I can see what’s best. Ultimately you have to trust the players once they cross the white line. But with Rafa, it was constant directions.

Pennant says Benitez held him back at Liverpool (Image: Getty Images Sport)

"Just sometimes, he might as well have turned a player into an Xbox, dressed me up like RoboCop and put a picture of my face on it. I’m not a defensive midfielder. I’m not James Milner, who keeps it simple. I’m a flair player and do my own thing. But his constant instructions really restricted me. They stopped me from being free. He could never let me do my thing.

"When you have so many instructions, it makes it so difficult. You’ve got some instructions and tactics in your mind and yet he’s shouting even more at you. All of a sudden you’re confused. You’ve got two sets of instructions in your mind and you’re left wondering what to do. It means that, suddenly, you mess up with a simple pass because your mind is all over the place.

"Honestly, Rafa was a nightmare like that."

Pennant reflects on his career as a Premier League footballer in his new book (Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)

Explaining why Benitez was his "most difficult" manager, Pennant says he could get "too clever" with his tactics, adding that training was often dull.

He said: "There were times when I would get so angry about how boring and repetitive training was that I would just lose it and shout, ‘For fuck’s sake – just give us a bit of a five-a-side!’

"As a player, you just want a bit of fun, to make training good and lively. But, with Rafa, the training was so boring that you’d come in and all you’d want to do was slit your wrists! The amount of time in training that we’d do shape, tactics and nothing else!"

Pennant supported Liverpool as a boy (Image: Getty)

While he never had a "full-on row" with Benitez, he feels he'd have benefited from and appreciated more individual feedback from his boss.

He added: "With Rafa, it is all about himself. It was either his way or no way. The man management was down to his staff. That was why, when Pako Ayestarán (his assistant) went, they had a parting of the ways and things started to go downhill a bit."

Pennant also played for clubs including Arsenal, Birmingham and Stoke.

The 35-year-old, who is now married to glamour model Alice Goodwin, also opens up about his wild womanising and turbulent upbringing in his warts-and-all book.

Mental: Bad Behaviour, Ugly Truths and the Beautiful Game by Jermaine Pennant is out on now in hardback, published by John Blake.